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November 17, 2010

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on November 15 approved the second large-scale solar energy project on U.S. public lands in Nevada. The Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project, a 500-megawatt (MW) facility, will provide electricity to about 150,000 homes. The project, an initiative of Solar Millennium LLC, is expected to create 1,300 construction jobs and up to 200 permanent operation jobs. Last month, DOI green lighted the first solar energy project on U.S. public lands in Nevada, First Solar’s Silver State North Solar Project, a 50-megawatt facility to be built in the Ivanpah Valley, 40 miles south of Las Vegas.

The Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project will employ concentrating solar power technology that will include two 250-megawatt parabolic trough power plants equipped with thermal energy storage capability. The project will be located in the Amargosa Valley on 4,350 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The project has undergone extensive environmental review, officials said. BLM, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service worked closely with Solar Millennium to develop an innovative mitigation plan for water use that can serve as a model for future solar projects. The project will have a net-neutral benefit on the plant and animal species found at nearby Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and the Devils Hole, a cavern located within the refuge. BLM also worked with the developer to reduce the approved project’s footprint from 7,630 acres to 6,320 acres. The BLM will require a natural color palette and minimum night lighting measures to reduce visual impacts on the local community.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s incentives for specified energy programs, Solar Millennium would be eligible for approximately $1 billion in investment tax credits. The company is also eligible to apply for financing through the DOE Title 17 Loan Guarantee Program. The project is negotiating to sell electricity to NV Energy under the terms of a power purchase agreement.

Also, last month crews broke ground on October 19 for the One Nevada Transmission Line that will carry electrical power over a 235-mile system. When completed, the 500-kilovolt line will extend from north of Las Vegas, Nevada to Burley, Idaho, providing a critical link for the northern and southern power grids serving Nevada. The line will provide the transmission infrastructure needed to make proposed wind, solar, and geothermal power generation projects throughout Nevada viable. See the DOI press release and an Amargosa fact sheet.

Agency committed to developing rules that are protective, cost effective and based on sound science

WASHINGTON – In a motion filed today in the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking an extension in the current court-ordered schedule for issuing rules that would reduce harmful air emissions from large and small boilers and solid waste incinerators. The additional time is needed for the agency to re-propose the rules based on a full assessment of information received since the rules were proposed. The rules would cut emissions of harmful pollutants, including mercury and soot, which cause a range of health effects – from developmental disabilities in children to cancer, heart disease and premature death.

“After receiving additional data through the extensive public comment period, EPA is requesting more time to develop these important rules,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “We want to ensure these rules are practical to implement and protect all Americans from dangerous pollutants such as mercury and soot, which affect kids’ development, aggravate asthma and cause heart attacks.”

In order to meet a court order requiring the EPA to issue final rules in January 2011, the agency proposed standards in April 2010. While EPA requested and received some information from industry before the proposal, the comments EPA received following the proposal shed new light on a number of key areas, including the scope and coverage of the rules and the way to categorize the various boiler-types. Industry groups and others offered this information during the public comment period after EPA proposed the rule. After reviewing the data and the more than 4,800 public comments, the agency believes it is appropriate to issue a revised proposal that reflects the new data and allows for additional public comment. This approach is essential to meeting the agency’s legal obligations under the Clean Air Act and, as a result, provides the surest path to protecting human health and the environment.

EPA has estimated that there are more than 200,000 boilers operating in industrial facilities, commercial buildings, hotels and universities located in highly populated areas and communities across the country. EPA has estimated that for every $5 spent on reducing these pollutants, the public will see $12 in health and other benefits.

EPA is under a current court order to issue final rules on January 16, 2011 and is seeking in its motion to the court to extend the schedule to finalize the rules by April 2012.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/combustion

This interactive map shows information on enforcement actions and cases from 2010. They include civil enforcement actions taken by EPA at facilities, criminal cases prosecuted by EPA under federal statutes and the U.S. Criminal Code, and cases in which EPA provided significant support to cases prosecuted under state criminal laws. The indicators on the map generally mark the location of the site or facility where the violations occurred or were discovered.

More than 1.4 billion pounds of harmful air, land, and water pollution to be reduced

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today the release of its annual enforcement and compliance results. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, EPA took enforcement and compliance actions that require polluters to pay more than $110 million in civil penalties and commit to spend an estimated $12 billion on pollution controls, cleanup, and environmental projects that benefit communities. These actions when completed will reduce pollution by more than 1.4 billion pounds and protect businesses that comply with regulations by holding non-compliant businesses accountable when environmental laws are violated.

“At EPA, we are dedicated to aggressively go after pollution problems that make a difference in our communities through vigorous civil and criminal enforcement,” stated Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Our commitment to environmental enforcement is grounded in the knowledge that people not only desire, but expect, the protection of the water they drink, the air they breathe and the communities they call home.”
EPA’s civil enforcement actions for violations of the Clean Air Act alone will account for the reduction of an estimated 400 million pounds of air pollution per year. Those reductions will represent between $6.2 billion and $15 billion annually in avoided health costs. As a result of water cases concluded in FY 2010, EPA is ensuring that an estimated 1 billion pounds of water pollution per year will be reduced, eliminated or properly managed and investments in pollution control and environmental improvement projects from parties worth approximately $8 billion will be made. EPA’s civil enforcement actions also led to commitments to treat, minimize or properly dispose of more than an estimated 11.8 billion pounds of hazardous waste.

EPA’s criminal enforcement program opened 346 new environmental crime cases in FY 2010. These cases led to 289 defendants charged for allegedly committing environmental crimes, the largest number in five years, 198 criminals convicted and $41 million assessed in fines and restitution. 

This year’s annual results include an enhanced mapping tool that allows the public to view detailed information about the enforcement actions taken at more than 4,500 facilities that concluded in FY 2010 on an interactive map of the United States and its territories. The map shows facilities and sites where civil and criminal enforcement actions were taken for alleged violations of U.S. environmental laws regulating air, water, and land pollution. The mapping tool also displays community-based activities like the locations of the environmental justice grants awarded in FY 2010 and the Environmental Justice Showcase Communities.

The release of the EPA’s enforcement and compliance results and the accompanying mapping tool are part of EPA’s commitment to transparency. They are intended to improve public access to data and provide the public with tools to demonstrate EPA’s efforts to protect human health and the environment in communities across the nation.

View the FY 2010 results and an announcement message from Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Cynthia Giles: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/reports/endofyear/eoy2010/index.html

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites small businesses to participate in a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel on a proposed rule that would establish financial responsibility requirements for classes of facilities within the hard rock mining industry. The requirements will help ensure that owners and operators of the facilities, not taxpayers, foot the bill for environmental cleanup.  

The panel will ask a selected group of Small Entity Representatives (SERs), to provide advice and recommendations on the proposed rule to the panel. EPA seeks self-nominations directly from small entities that may be subject to the rule requirements. Self-nominations may be submitted through the link below and must be received by December 20, 2010.

The requirements will be developed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly called Superfund.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires EPA to establish a federal panel for rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.  The SBAR panel will include representatives from the Small Business Administration, the Office of Management and Budget and EPA. 

More information: http://www.epa.gov/sbrefa/hardrockmining.htm

With U.S. EPA taking intense criticism from Republicans and businesses, Administrator Lisa Jackson said today her 40-year-old agency is battling a new problem: Americans are taking a healthy environment for granted. When EPA was created in 1970, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire. Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were choking on smog on a daily basis. And the widespread use of DDT and other toxic chemicals was killing off bald eagles — the very symbol of the United States.

The nation’s rivers aren’t burning anymore, Jackson said. The air is clean enough that many people don’t notice it. Struggling species have rebounded. But because younger people have no memories of those days, they might not realize why the agency was created in the first place, she said.

Critics say EPA has already picked all the low-hanging fruit in the Clean Air Act and other statutes. But Jackson said there are still ways for the agency to address public health and the environment — especially by imposing more rules on electric utilities.

Read the complete article at the New York Times

By Kelly M. Pyrek

The healthcare industry is rife with opportunities to reduce the environmental impact it creates, with the added benefits of institutional financial gain, improved patient outcomes, better staff health and reduced turnover, and community benefit, according to a report from Practice Greenhealth and from the Institute for Innovation in Large Organizations.(1) An increasing number of healthcare institutions are endeavoring to reuse, recycle and repurpose medical supplies and devices to promote better sustainability.

“With the healthcare sector accounting for a large part of the U.S. carbon footprint – 8 percent, according to a 2009 JAMA study(2) – industry involvement in and support of sustainability efforts is no longer a question of ‘why’ or ‘when,’ but of ‘how,’” says Lars Thording, senior director of marketing and public affairs for Ascent Healthcare Solutions. “Although a commitment to sustainability is about reducing environmental impact, it is also inexorably tied to the issues of cost and quality care. These are top issues in the burgeoning reform of healthcare. A sustainability measure is not realistic and cannot be effectively implemented if it does not take into account impacts to cost and patient care.” Thording continues, “A positive sign of progress is that hospital sustainability coordinators and green teams are on the rise. They are helping to guide purchasing decisions and are formulating policies for hospital employees. But a green team isn’t enough. Nurses on the hospital floor, surgeons in the OR, administrators and suppliers are all a part of the solution.”

Healthcare professionals should be conscious of how healthcare contributes to the waste stream. “The hospital industry generates multiple types of waste that can be categorized into 10 waste streams,” explains Debra Gillmeister, MBA, a director for Stericycle’s healthcare service division. “Eighty percent are highly regulated, such as regulated medical waste (RMW), pharmaceutical waste and hazardous waste. Each of these must be properly segregated and disposed of to insure that the environment is protected and that laws and regulations are followed. Effective segregation diminishes total waste and the facilities’ carbon footprint.” Gillmeister is a former advisory board member for the American Hospital Association’s American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services.

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